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‘Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on’: Trump claims the oil price war behind markets crash is ‘GOOD for the consumer’ because gas prices are coming down and blames fake coronavirus news for historic drop

Donald Trump continues to downplay the threat of coronavirus, claiming the media and Democratic Party is trying to ‘inflame’ the situation in the U.S.

‘The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything … to inflame the CoronaVirus situation,’ the president tweeted Monday

He also insisted that the massive market drop Monday morning is actually ‘good for the consumer’ because prices are lower for gasoline

His claim comes as the death toll in the U.S. reached 26 Monday

Global and the U.S. stock markets also continue to plummet over the fast-spreading virus and concerns over Saudi Arabia launching a price war on oil

Trump, the first to tout market gains under his administration, has not address the market impact of coronavirus

Donald Trump claimed the oil price crash which led to the plunging stock market was ‘good’ for consumers because it is based on cheaper gas Monday as Wall Street faced a fall so dramatic trading was briefly halted.

‘Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!’ Trump tweeted Monday, one of a string of tweets accusing the ‘fake news’ of prompting the sell-off.

He accused the media of ‘inflaming’ the virus outbreak and dismissed the collapse in oil prices as the result of Saudi Arabia and Russia ‘arguing.’

As the Dow Jones lost a year’s gains, he was shuttling across Florida from Mar-a-Lago to a $100,000-a-head fundraiser – and tweeting that flu was worse than coronavirus.

‘Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil,’ Trump continued in another tweet Monday morning. ‘That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!’

Markets all over the world plummeted Monday over the growing threat of the virus spreading, but Trump has not addressed the economic impact as the coronavirus death toll bypassed 20 in the U.S.

Global markets opened with big losses Monday morning as the economy saw its worst day in more than 10 years.

Trump continued to downplay the threat, citing that more people died from the flu last year, and insisting life and the economy will ‘go on’ even over the escalation in coronavirus outbreak.

‘So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year,’ Trump cited in a tweet.

‘Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on,’ he insisted. ‘At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!’

The president has repeatedly expressed incredulity at the number of flu deaths, and the idea that people die of it. In 1918, his grandfather Freidrich died of Spanish flu.

Trump claims that media outlets are working with Democrats to make the coronavirus outbreak seem worse than it is.

Donald Trump claimed Monday morning that the market drop is ‘good for the consumer’ because gasoline prices are coming down

The Dow Jones saw its worst single-day drop since 2008 as Saudi Arabia goes into a price war over oil and concerns over coronavirus spreading continues to rock, but Trump said the ‘fake news’ is the reason for the plummet

During his trip to attend a fundraiser in Orlando, Trump shook hands with supporters gathered to greet him

The president insisted while tweeting from Florida Monday that ‘life & the economy [will] go on’ as markets plunged and coronavirus concerns spread

In continuing to downplay the threat of coronavirus, he claimed the media and Democratic Party are trying to ‘inflame’ the situation in the U.S.

Instead, he took to Twitter to laud himself and his administration for the response to the outbreak

Trump also praised himself for making the decision to halt travel from high-risk countries as the fast-spreading respiratory virus rose as a worldwide threat

‘The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant,’ the president tweeted Monday morning.

‘Surgeon General, ‘The risk is low to the average American,” he continued, quoting U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

‘So much FAKE NEWS!’ he lamented in a separate tweet Monday morning.

Trump’s claims comes as the death toll in the U.S. reached 26 on Monday afternoon and cases continued to spread to new areas of the country, including the first confirmed case in Washington, D.C.

Kansas and Missouri also announced their first cases over the weekend as the cases number now exceeds 600.

The most U.S. deaths occurred in Washington state after the virus spread among residents at a nursing facility in a suburb of Seattle.

But Trump insists the threat is less serious than is being portrayed by media reports and Democratic lawmakers.

He then praised himself in another tweet Monday morning for banning travel from high-risk countries early on in the outbreak.

‘The BEST decision made was the toughest of them all – which saved many lives,’ Trump lauded of his administration. ‘Our VERY early decision to stop travel to and from certain parts of the world!’

Trump stopped travel from certain countries to the U.S., including from China and Iran – and Americans have been warned of traveling to other high-risk countries like Italy and South Korea.

The president is usually the first to address stock market gains under his administration, but since coronavirus has caused markets to fall, he has remained largely silent on the matter.

Earlier this month, the U.S. saw its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis and on Monday markets plunged nearly 7 per cent.

Markets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East also opened sharply lower on Monday as investors came to grips with the global spread of coronavirus.

Trump also praised Vice President Mike Pence, who he appointed last month to lead the charge by the coronavirus task force on addressing the outbreak and halting the spread

The global market plunged, causing the worst one-day crash in crude oil prices in 30 years, after Saudi Arabia launched a price war.

On Friday Russia refused to follow OPEC’s efforts to stop market plummets caused by the escalation of the coronavirus outbreak.

In early trading, BP was down by 18 percent, Royal Dutch Shell was down 14 percent and ExxonMovil was down 11 percent.

Ordinarily, a slump in oil prices offers a boost for airlines because their fuel costs are low.

But with the ever-shrinking demand for flights due to the virus, they have been left unable to capitalize.

The coronavirus crisis, which has now infected more than 110,000 people globally, has crippled supply chains and prompted cuts to global growth forecasts for 2020.

Downtrodden brokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning before the market opened

Gregory Rowe, a trader, look forlorn as he waits for the markets to open

There are now more than 500 cases of the virus in the US alone

There is no sign that the spread is close to slowing down, either.

Traders are now expecting the Federal Reserve to again cut interest rates next week after an emergency reduction on March 3, putting the yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury on course for its biggest one-day fall in almost a decade.

Coronavirus has infected more than 108,000 people worldwide and is throwing many countries’ economies into turmoil.

The number of confirmed cases in New York rose by 13 over the weekend, nearing the state total to 90.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued a declaration of emergency in the state.

But Trump claimed late Sunday night that the messaging from Cuomo is ‘political weaponization’ of the coronavirus.

‘There are no mixed messages, only political weaponization by people like you and your brother, Fredo!’ Trump insisted in his tweet, making reference to Cuomo’s brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Graphic shows spread of Coronavirus as world cases top 110,000

HOW SAUDI ARABIA IS TRYING TO CRIPPLE RUSSIAN OIL

Saudi Arabia slashed its oil export prices over the weekend and declared a price war with Russia that sent global markets reeling and marked the sharpest decline in oil futures since 1991.

The price drop came after Russia refused to sign on with a proposal by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut production globally as the coronavirus outbreak has slowed the demand for oil.

OPEC nations met with allies like Russia on Thursday and Friday in Vienna to reduce oil production by an additional 1.5million barrels per day to stabilize the market starting in April through the end of the year.

But Russia refused to join to agreement.

From Russia’s perspective cutting production would boost US oil producers at the expense of international competitors and lead to a loss in profits.

On Saturday, after the group failed to come to a consensus, Saudi Arabia – which runs the world’s large oil company Saudi Aramco – slashed its export oil prices to saturate the market and trigger a price war aimed at Russia.

An oil price war triggered by a falling out between Saudi Arabia and Russia is exasperating the economic chaos. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) and Russian president Vladimir Putin (right)

Saudi Arabia slashed crude prices to Chinese customers by as much as $6 to $7 a barrel and is looking to boost output by as many as 2million barrels a day.

China is the world’s biggest oil importer and has purchased oil at cheap prices to stockpile for future use in the past.

As a result the Brent global oil benchmark fell dramatically on Sunday by 30 percent, dropping to $31.02 a barrel at its lowest.

US West Texas Intermediate crude, the other main price benchmark for oil, dropped 27% to $30 per barrel – the lowest level since February 2016.

Sunday’s decline in the oil market was the sharpest slump in 29 years since the Gulf War in 1991.

The failed talks marked the first break in a three-year alliance between Saudi Arabia led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The alliance was key to competing with a surge in American oil production that turned the US into a major crude exporter for the first time in decades.

In response to the price cut Russia said its companies were free to pump as much as they could, as per Bloomberg.

‘If you are Russia, it’s worth it for you to take a three-month price hit to see if you can knock out U.S. oil exports,’ Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil and Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said to the New York Times. ‘They might be correct for three months but the shale never gets destroyed.’

Jaffe said the disagreement between the two nations ‘signals that the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Russia is on the skids.’

Analysts speculate the actions over the weekend may have been a game between Saudi Arabia and Russia that will end when they come to a compromise.

Airlines blamed the media for exaggerating the effects of the coronavirus Tuesday, urgently broadcasting that they are “open for business” as travel continues to slump and new numbers suggest the worst may be yet to come for the industry.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the trade group Airlines for America said that “false media narratives … have led to confusion and uncertainty across the country,” and argued that it’s safe to fly, saying “numerous health officials have affirmed that the risk remains low for travelers who follow CDC guidelines.”

That’s a message that at least two lawmakers — among the nation’s most frequent flyers — heard loud and clear.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee that oversees aviation, said she didn’t fly home to Washington state last weekend and doesn’t plan to in the foreseeable future.

“I have an 88-year-old mom who’s living at my house [in Washington] and she’s been ill, and I want to give her the comfort of being there. When you have elderly people you want to make sure you’re not putting them at additional risk,” she said. “And look, do I think that there can be airline travel that is safe? Yes. But if you don’t have to…”

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), 85, noted that the doctor said “stay off of those planes as much as we can.”

“If any of you is going to Alabama Thursday night, can I get a ride?” Shelby quipped to reporters gathered around him Tuesday. “I’ll ride in the back of the truck.”

Also Tuesday, a coalition of mostly travel interests spearheaded by the U.S. Travel Association made a similar plea, noting that canceling travel and events “has a trickle-down effect that threatens to harm the U.S. economy, from locally owned hotels, restaurants, travel advisors and tour operators to the service and frontline employees who make up the backbone of the travel industry and the American economy.”

The groups’ plea comes amid fresh warnings and widespread fear around the disease, along with new figures suggesting a worsening financial situation for the airline industry.

Yesterday, the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the industry’s outlook from stable to negative, warning that there is an “increasing risk to demand for passenger air travel as the coronavirus expands globally.”

And today, the Global Business Travel Association reported that business travel is “slowing at an alarming rate,” finding that 13 percent of its members have canceled even domestic travel, along with high rates of canceled international business travel.

“Those are the customers that are the most profitable for airlines,” said airline analyst Henry Harteveldt.

Though airlines have yet to publicly ask for assistance from the government, the potential for some kind of stimulus has been a topic of discussion on and off Capitol Hill for days, and President Donald Trump has indicated that he favors some assistance for airlines and the cruise industry.

On Tuesday, Trump, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, met with Senate Republicans at their weekly lunch to discuss potential stimulus ideas on a range of topics.

Several Republican senators said that support for the airline and cruise industries was discussed generally, but that few specifics were given.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said that he had not been approached by either industry asking for aid.

Despite the fresh bad news, there is still a high level of uncertainty in the outlook for airlines and the travel industry broadly. “At this point, you cant really do forecasting because we’ve never really been in a situation quite like this before,” said Harteveldt.

And it remains true that overall, the industry is in much better shape than it was after 9/11 and in 2008, when airlines were hit hard by the recession, said Bob Mann, another airline industry analyst.

“The industry structure and company’s balance sheets individually are in far better shape,” he said. “Even the worst balance sheets are better than the average balance sheets in 2008 and 2001.”

Airlines have been taking steps to reduce their capacity, which Mann called “prudent.”

American Airlines is the latest to make that call, announcing this morning it would cut summer international flights by 10 percent and domestic flights by 7.5 percent. Delta Air Lines also said Tuesday that it is cutting international flights by 20 percent to 25 percent and domestic flights by 10 percent to 15 percent.

Contents

Personal life

Keane was born in 1943 in Manhattan, New York,[1][2] the son of Elizabeth (Davis) and John Keane. He has a brother, Ronald. Keane married Theresa Doyle in 1965 and has two sons.[3] His wife died in 2016 after having Parkinson’s disease for 14 years.[4]

In 1991 Keane saved the life of David Petraeus during a live-fire exercise. According to Keane, Petraeus was shot “accidentally, standing right next to me, and I had to fight to save his life. He had a hole about the size of a quarter in his back and is gushing with blood, and we stopped the bleeding and got him on a helicopter and got him to a surgeon and so we were sort of bonded ever since that time.”[6]

Keane retired from military service in 2003.

Post military service

Following his retirement, he has served as an informal advisor to presidents and other senior officials. He served an advisory role in the management of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, as a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. In January 2007, Keane and scholar Frederick W. Kagan released a policy paper titled “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq,”[7] through the American Enterprise Institute that called for bringing security by putting 30,000 additional American troops there for a period of at least 18 months. In part convinced by this paper, President George W. Bush ordered on January 10, 2007, the deployment of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, most of whom would be deployed to Baghdad. This deployment has been nicknamed the 2007 “surge“.[8][9]

Of his initial meeting with President Bush regarding the surge, Keane said he made a phone call to Newt Gingrich to ask his advice prior to the meeting. As Keane said in 2014,

Gingrich gave me some good advice. He said, “Look, Jack. Most people go in the Oval Office, even people who go in there a lot, have a tendency in front of the President of the United States to always leave something on the table.” He said, “Don’t leave anything on the table.” He said, “You’re going to get about 15 minutes at best and put it all out there. And when you walk out of that room, feel good that you got it all out there.” So that was sound advice, and I did put it all out there.[10]

Keane was asked by then-Vice President Cheney to go back on active duty and lead the surge in the field. When Keane declined, Cheney pressed him to come work in the White House and oversee both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; Keane again declined. Keane ended up briefly working at the White House and then later traveled to Iraq several times to advise General Petraeus.[11]

Current activities

Keane is a regular contributor to Fox News, and is involved in a variety of business, think tank and charitable activities. He serves as chairman of AM General, the firm that produces the Humvee.[12][13]. In June 2016, Keane co-founded IP3 International (IP3), a nuclear energy consulting firm.

Shortly after Stanley A. McChrystal declined the Secretary of Defense job, Vice-President Elect Pence heard the emotional reasons for the newly widowed general’s decline of the same job. After the departure of General Mattis, the President offered the job again to the subject, but he declined because he was newly remarried.[15] He is considered an influential voice to leaders from both major political parties, including President Trump, particularly on foreign policy issues related to the Middle East.[16]

IP3

Keane is a cofounder and director of IP3 International.[17] According to a staff report to the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and subsequently, Trump aides such as Jared Kushner and others have been engaged in promoting IP3’s plan to transfer nuclear technology from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia. According to the report, IP3 founders and others have been seeking to broker a deal with Riyadh without the “gold standard,” a provision — tied to section 123 of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act which establishes conditions for nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and its allies — that seeks to limit weaponizing of nuclear energy.[18][19] In July 2019, the committee chairman released a second staff report that detailed various activities and contacts between IP3 and the Trump administration.[18][20]